European commission hopeful vows to use Ďall proceduresí to block Nord Stream 2

April 25/ 11:19

Moscow. While Nord Stream 2 has prompted considerable opposition in the US, Poland, Ukraine, and some other countries which have described the project as a political instrument, German Chancellor Angela Merkel agrees with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s view that the issue of Nord Stream 2 should not be politicised.

European People's Party leader Manfred Weber, a candidate for the presidency of the European Commission, has reiterated his promise to do his best to block the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline if he is finally nominated for the new job.

“And we should be more independent from Russian gas. As head of the European Commission, I [would] use all the procedures to block Nord Stream 2,” he pointed out.

Weber said that he is alarmed by the fact that his views run counter to those of Berlin, which supports Nord Stream 2, adding that he is a candidate for European Commission's top spot from the European People's Party rather than Germany.

The remarks come after Weber vowed in an interview with Newsweek in mid-March that if he becomes the head of the European Commission, he would once again study the “tools” that could be used to prevent the construction of Nord Stream 2.

The remarks come a few weeks after US Senator Ron Johnson said that a preliminary resolution calling for the cancellation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project due to its alleged threats to European security had advanced in Congress,told Sputnik.

Earlier, Wintershall chief executive Mario Mehren said that the resolution on halting Nord Stream 2 recently adopted by the European Parliament does not mean anything for the further implementation of the project.Apart from that, Mehren noted that Wintershall had invested two-thirds of the planned 950 million euros (over $1 billion) in the Nord Stream 2.

Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture between Russia's Gazprom, Germany's Uniper and Wintershall, France's Engie, Austria's OMV and Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell. The project envisions the construction of a second gas pipeline along the bottom of the Baltic Sea connecting north-western Russia and north-eastern Germany.

When completed later this year, the pipeline is expected to deliver 55 billion cubic meters (1.9 trillion cubic feet) of Russian natural gas annually to the European Union.